About William "Brito" d'Aubigny, Lord of Belvoir

Guillaume (William) "Brito" d'Aubigny or William de Albini Brito

Son of Main d'Aubigny, seigneur de Saint-Aubin-d'Aubigné (Ille-et-Vilaine) and Adelaide de Bohun. Husband of Cecily (Cicely) Bigod, Heiress of Belvoir (de Bigod), from whom he received the honor of Belvoir (he did not inherit it).

Children:

William m. Matilda (Maud) de Senlis

Robert

Roger

Ralph

Matilda

Basilia

Guillaume d'Aubigné (ou d'Aubigny) called Brito (the Breton) († 1148 or a little after), Lord of Belvoir, was an Anglo-Norman baron. 'He was nicknamed Brito to distinguish him from his contemporary Guillaume d'Aubigny († 1139), called Pincerna (the Butler), who was descended from the seigneurs of Saint-Martin-d'Aubigny.(trans. from French wikipedia--see below)

Two Bigod sisters each married men named William d"Aubigny. Cecily Bigod married William "Brito" d'Aubigny while her sister Maud Bigod married William "Pincerna" d'Aubigny.

The d'Aubigny's of Belvoir are from this "Brito" line, since Cecily Bigod inherited Belvoir from her mother, Adeliza de Toeni (Tosny/Toni), who inherited it from her mother, Adeliza FitzOsulf.

Foundation for Medieval Genealogy:

CECILY Bigod (daughter of Roger Bigod and Alice/Adelisa de Tosny). The primary source which confirms her parentage and marriage has not yet been identified. She inherited Belvoir from her mother. m GUILLAUME d'Aubigny "Brito", son of MAIN Seigneur de Saint-Aubin-d'Aubigné & his wife Adelaide de Bohun (-after 1148). He owned part of the fee of Belvoir before Cecily's mother held it, Complete Peerage concluding therefore that the marriage may have been arranged to settle rival claims[621].

Her parentage is indicated by the charter dated 23 Apr [1430] under which her descendant “Thomas dominus de Ros, de Hamelake, de Trussebout et de Beavoir” confirmed the possessions of Belvoir priory, Lincolnshire made by "antecessores nostros…Robertum de Toteneio, Willielmum de Toteneyo filium suum, Agnetem de Toteneio filiam dicti Roberti de Toteneyo, Henricum de Rya filium Huberto de Rya, Agnetem de Toteneyo, Willielmum de Albeneio primum, Willielmum de Albeneio secundum, Willielmum de Albeneio tertium, Willielmum de Albeneio quartum, Ywynum de Albeneyo, Heliam de Albeneyo et uxores eorundem, Isabellam filiam domini Willielmi de Albeneio quæ fuit uxor domini de Ros, domini de Beauvoire et de Hamelake"[1025], the connection with Robert de Tosny Lord of Belvoir, her maternal grandfather, being established through her marriage.

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According to Levot 10 (whose facts and assumptions seem not always to be reliable - a Montsorel escutcheon acquired by the family 100 years later!), the gift by Guillaume Boterat witnessed by Ralph d'Aubigne in 1095 was made on the eve of their departure on a crusade, a popular pastime of the nobility of western Europe in that period, and no indication of his return has been found. While there are many Breton charters extant naming members of the Aubigne family, because of the lack of relationship details or dates on available copies of the documents the next definite sighting found of a Lord of Aubigne is in 1196 when Ralph II was using a seal with the undifferenced ancient escutcheon of Aubigne 11. Fig. 1. [It is not clear from the presentation by de Courcy whether the numbers 1196 & 1200 are dates or numbers of seals in a series, but as Dom Lobineaull also quotes the use by William of the same six bezant seal with the date AD. 1200, and with a picture of the seal, it seems safe to assume that de Courcy's other figure, 1196, is also a date]. It is probable that the Aubigne lordship, on the death of his elder brother Ralph, reverted to William (Brito I) who then passed it to his younger son Ralph 1, and so to Ralph II. William D'Aubigne (Brito I) was born at France. The Breton Lords of Belvoir and the Daubeney family of Ingleby, Lincolnshire, and South Petherton, Somerset, came from the same family of Breton landowners in the small town of Aubigne now St. Aubin d'Aubigne a few kilometres north of Rennes, Brittany, on route 776.. William D'Aubigne (Brito I) was also known as de Albini in some records. He was the son of Patriarch D'Aubigne. William D'Aubigne (Brito I) was also known as William D'Aubigne in some records.

William D'Aubigne (Brito I) married Cecily Bigod, daughter of Roger Bigod and Adeliza Todeni.
William 1 it seems, as a second son in search of fortune, joined the forces of Henry 1 as a knight of the Breton contingent under the orders of Helie, Count of Le Mans. He so distinguished himself at the battle of Tinchebrai (27 Sept. 1106) against the forces of Henry's brother Robert that the resulting victory for Henry was said to be largely of his doing". It was possibly this action that brought the favour of Henry and the marriage with Cecily, the heiress of Belvoir, though Adeliza, her mother, was apparently still mistress of Belvoir in 1130, owing tax of £ 188 for the fee`. Even so, references to the collection of appreciable amounts of tax from William (Brito) and his men occur at this date too, so William was then obviously holding a sizeable fee, if not Belvoir..

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William d'Aubigny (after 1148), was an itinerant justice under King Henry I of England. He was commonly known by the appellation Brito.

William was a son of Main d'Aubigny, Breton lord of Saint-Aubin-d'Aubigné (now in Ille-et-Vilaine department) and Adelaide de Bohun[1]. He fought at the Battle of Tinchebray (1106) and was high in Henry I's favor[1]. He was allowed to marry Cecily, the elder daughter of Roger Bigod, sheriff of Norfolk. Through her, he acquired a part of the honour of Belvoir in Leicestershire - his castle became the centre of the family estates - after his mother-in-law, who had been the heir of Robert de Tosny, lord of Belvoir, died about 1130[1]. The couple had four or five sons and two daughters[1]. His heir was William, who married Maud Fitz Robert, daughter of Robert Fitz Richard. The Magna Carta surety, William d'Aubigny, was their son[2].

Notes

1.^ a b c d K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, 'Aubigné, William d' (d. in or after 1148)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. 2.^ Section LA: Descendants of William D'Aubigny

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William, who assumed, from what reason is unascertained, thesurname of Albini, and was known as 'William de Albini, Brito,'in contradistinction to another great Baron, 'William de Albini,Pincerna,' from whom the Earls of Arundel descended. William deAlbini, Brito, Lord of Belvoir, in the Chapter House of St.Albans, confirmed all the grants of his father and mother to theChurch of Our Lady at Belvoir, desiring that he might beadmitted in the fraternity as those his parents had been. Thisfeudal lord acquired great renown at the celebrated battle ofTinchebray, in Normandy, where, commanding the horse, he chargedthe enemy with so much spirit that he determine at once the fateof the day. of the exploit, Matthew Paris says, 'In thisencounter chiefly deserveth honour the most heroic William deAlbini, the Briton, who, with his sword, broke through theenemy, and terminated the battle.' He subsequently adhered tothe Empress Maud and had his castle of Belvoir, with all hisother lands, seized by King Stephen and transferred to Ranulph,Earl of Chester. He m. Maud, dau. of Simon de St. Liz, 1st Earlof Huntingdon, widow of Robert, son of Richard de Tunbridge, andding about the year 1155, left two sons, viz., William, surnamedMeschines, and Ralph. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant,Forfeited and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London,England, 1883, p. 160, Daubeney, Barons Daubeney, Earl ofBridgewater]

William De Albini was an itinerant justice under King Henry I of England. He was commonly known by the appellation Brito. More here: http://bit.ly/eAKCpK